If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

A bubble of my own self-satisfaction. Which is in the New Forest somewhere in Hampshire.

Posts

431

Thanks

0

Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

Mentioned

0 Post(s)

Tagged

0 Thread(s)

Rep Power

134

Originally Posted by genuineoriginal

Bob would not say he has written a program unless he has done just that.
He is also trying to make a point.

So you actually believe that Pastor Bob Enyart has, in fact, written an original, unique, fully-functional executable computer program, in a programming language that is usable by a contemporary computer, which acts as a seachable database of all books ever published and all possible books that currently exist only in potentia.

Not being funny, but seriously, don't get your hopes up. If Bob were that good at programming he wouldn't be earning a living as an obscure radio talk host in Colorado.

So you actually believe that Pastor Bob Enyart has, in fact, written an original, unique, fully-functional executable computer program, in a programming language that is usable by a contemporary computer

Yep.

, which acts as a seachable database of all books ever published and all possible books that currently exist only in potentia.

Now you are trying to add features to the program.
Display.exe can display pages from any book ever published.
Bob never said it could act as a searchable database.

Not being funny, but seriously, don't get your hopes up. If Bob were that good at programming he wouldn't be earning a living as an obscure radio talk host in Colorado.

He was good enough at programming to work for Microsoft.

Learn to read what is written.

_____

The people who are supposed to be experts and who claim to understand the science are precisely the people who are blind to the evidence.
~ Dr Freeman Dyson

A bubble of my own self-satisfaction. Which is in the New Forest somewhere in Hampshire.

Posts

431

Thanks

0

Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

Mentioned

0 Post(s)

Tagged

0 Thread(s)

Rep Power

134

Fair enough. Anyway, I'm bored of this game now. I'm going to stop speculating on what the answer to Bob's clever little riddle might be, because I'm inevitably just going to be peeved and frustrated by the answer.

I say future because you said a future unpublished book, unless I misunderstood you. To me that implies a book still in the mind of an author.

Originally Posted by Knight

There is a finite amount of ways to arrange sentences on a paper, given enough time couldn't the computer program run through all of them? That wouldn't be evidence one way or the other for the future being known.

That's an interesting point. However, I think a computer program being able to create word-for-word a book that I will write in the future is impossible.

Say I tasked display.exe to find my unpublished book titled My Great Book. The software may construct an infinite number of possible versions, but how does it know it has the right version without me saying it has?

The whole concept, what I've heard of it so far, seems impossible.

"It is easier to contend with evil at the first than at the last." - Leonardo da Vinci

But does it display the pages in order? Or does it just display pages randomly so it will display a page from 1 book and then display a page from another book next?

It is more complicated than that.

Of course, I haven't actually tried Bob's software.
My comments are based on being a software developer who figured out the principles behind Bob's software from his list of features, from Knight's comments, and from using a different software program Bob wrote years ago that appears related to this one.

If I have misrepresented Display.exe in any way, then I am sure Bob will let us know.

Learn to read what is written.

_____

The people who are supposed to be experts and who claim to understand the science are precisely the people who are blind to the evidence.
~ Dr Freeman Dyson

I say future because you said a future unpublished book, unless I misunderstood you. To me that implies a book still in the mind of an author.

That's an interesting point. However, I think a computer program being able to create word-for-word a book that I will write in the future is impossible.

Say I tasked display.exe to find my unpublished book titled My Great Book. The software may construct an infinite number of possible versions, but how does it know it has the right version without me saying it has?

The whole concept, what I've heard of it so far, seems impossible.

Of course, it would be easier if My Great Book were a children's book along the lines of Goodnight Moon.

Learn to read what is written.

_____

The people who are supposed to be experts and who claim to understand the science are precisely the people who are blind to the evidence.
~ Dr Freeman Dyson